Gotta spare Trillion bucks Build Enterprise

[Carolynn]

http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The guy, an engineer, says we could build a less capable Enterprise in 20 years for just a Trillion dollars. He has some ingenuity, but there are holes in his proposal, especially when it comes to political will.

[Kimberly Kael]

It's a fun attempt to apply the tiniest bit of science to a fictional design but in practice it's all woefully impractical. The shuttle / Universal Lander project alone is a tiny part of the overall proposal, and even on its own it is significantly more ambitious than any project that has received serious funding and stands no chance at all of meeting its stated goals in the timeframe allowed. I find it quite telling that the proposal's author immediately discounts any suggestion that the shape of the Enterprise be deviated from, when in practice the notion that form follows function is essentially unavoidable when it comes to practical engineering.

He's understandably in love with the idea, and I agree that progressively more ambitious manned spaceflight is very clearly our destiny as a species, but more practical incremental steps will be the way we get there. What something like this does do is spark the imagination of another generation working to get us there. Some day.

[April Rose]

I think I'll wait and see how the Facebook stock does before I invest in this.

[Kyra]

No matter how fantastic this sounds to an avid Scifi person, such as myself, the first thing that comes to my mind is:

Okay, we've got a ship, where do we go?

I agree that progressively more ambitious manned spaceflight is very clearly our destiny as a species, but more practical incremental steps will be the way we get there. What something like this does do is spark the imagination of another generation working to get us there. Some day.